evening talk

i’m in alabama.

this weekend i’m studying the concept of windhorse, which are the funny little horses depicted on many Tibetan prayer flags. That wasn’t part of the talk or this weekend, I just wanted to point that out. One might describe windhorse as the energy and focus we have when we’re in “the zone” or in “the flow”. this weekend is about cultivating that.

Anyway, tonight’s talk however was all about the subject of the last retreat that I had such a problem with, called drala.

luckily, the director for this weekend presents drala from a much more open perspective and clearly has room for my personal take on it. so i’m feeling more supported. still a little edgy, but more supported.
just for *some* small amount of background if you’re curious, drala is an old Tibetan term that refers to spirit energy. but in my practice lineage it’s been reused to refer to deep, raw perception of reality that we can have when we relax enough and stop layering concept over everything. i sometimes experience this as vividness for example. after meditating, colors are brighter and things look fresh and i notice details that i otherwise would have missed. some would call it “beginner’s mind” where you can rest in the present moment because you open to the uniqueness of the moment. the meditation practice lets me relax so i don’t have to see the world through a conceptual view 100% of the time and some raw perception sneaks in.

my problem with the previous retreat was the director presented this like the quality of vividness in objects was independent of the observer, like energy stored in crystals or something. way too new age for me, and i think that is missing the point. the point is to use the idea of drala to remember that we can drop the concepts and see richness in the world. not to buy the right kind of crystal to hang around our neck.

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